Dreaming of You
by Lisa Moulton
Summary: **COMPLETED**; Edited 2/01 Two friends are dreaming of each other. But are they much more than dreams?
1. I'll Be In Your Dreams Tonight

**THIS STORY IS MARY SUE! IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T READ IT!**

**Author's Notes, Disclaimers, and Dedications: First of all, all _BTTF_-related stuff belongs to Bob and Bob (that is, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale). I borrowed a song from Selena and a song from Lonestar, but I'll give them back when I'm done. Everything else _should_ be my own. This tale is dedicated to Kristen Sheley and Mary Jean Holmes, my inspirations. This little diddy-fic was something I always wanted to write. I did an early version, but it sucked to say the least. So here's the new and improved version! Oh, why is it all in italics and kinda centered? You'll find out in Chapter Two! I am absolutely in love with the _Back to the Future_ trilogy, so, of course, I had to add myself into its universe. If you don't understand something, don't worry. I probably didn't understand it, either, when I wrote it. ;; The picture in question can be viewed using the following URL: /modules/images/behind/large/behindsceneso.jpg. Just pretend I'm in it, sitting in the car. If you want to see the version with _me_, use the following URL: /images/tempusmagus/LisaintheDelorean.jpg and that was drawn by one of my best friends. huggles her I realize I'm not smiling, but, hey, I didn't draw it. **

_"Doc, Doc, Doc, look at this! It's changing."_

_The stressing scientist leaned over his young friend's shoulder, gazing intently at the newspaper in his hands as the headline: YOUTH JAILED suddenly dissolved to read: GANG JAILED._

_Doc reached into his pocket, pulled out the futuristic binoculars – a binocular card – and aimed the device at the courthouse. He saw Griff being "escorted" out of the damaged building by the __Hill__Valley__ police, shouting, "I was framed!"_

_"Ah, yes!" Doc exulted. "Yes, of course. Because this hoverboard incident has now occurred, Griff now goes to jail. Therefore, your son won't go with him tonight and that robbery will never take place. Thus, history, future history has now been altered, and this is the proof! Marty, we've succeeded, not exactly as I planned, but no matter. Let's go get Jennifer and go home!"_

_Marty went to collect the toy hoverboard so they could prepare to leave; however, Lisa's voice stopped them both. "Doc, wait. Could I try this out, just once?" She was holding up a small pocket camera, one that didn't need film. Photographs were stored on a computer chip that held far more pictures than the standard film in 1985. "I want a shot of all four of us and the De'." Lisa was, of course, including Doc's sheepdog, Einstein, in the equation. The "De' " was her pet name for the DeLorean time machine._

_"Lisa," Doc began, "we really_…_"_

_"Please?" she pleaded._

_One could almost see the gears in the inventor's head spinning. If it had been any other person asking, the answer would have been a flat NO_…_however, this was Lisa, so_…

_"Oh, I suppose." Doc relented while Marty smiled behind his back. When it all boiled down to things, Doc would let Lisa get away with nearly anything. Nearly._

_Happily, Lisa set up the camera using a tripod to hold it to the desired height and distance away in order to fit herself, Doc, Marty, Einstein, and the DeLorean in the picture._

_As she surveyed the group in front of her, she gave directions to her companions. "Doc, open the driver door. I'll sit in the seat. Marty, sit on the hood. Over to the left a little more. Good. Einie, sit by Marty. If you could lean on the door, Doc_…_perfect! Timer set for ten seconds starting_…_now!"_

_Lisa hit a button on the camera and a steady light appeared by the viewfinder. She scurried over to the DeLorean, seating herself in the driver seat, leaning against the frame of the vehicle. After a few seconds, the light began to blink, then there was a soft beep, and she ran to the camera again, examining it, then she grinned broadly._

_Removing the camera from the tripod and replacing the latter accessory in the car, she showed her two human friends the LCD screen on the back of the camera, which displayed a crystal-clear, but small, image of what the camera had just taken._

_All of a sudden, everything around them began to waver like the air above pavement on a hot summer day. It was as if __Hill__Valley__ of 2015 had begun to melt around them_…

_Lisa, Doc, Marty, Einstein, and the DeLorean faded into blackness_…

_End part one._


	2. Flashes from the Past

**Disclaimers and Stuff: I do not own _BTTF_. If I did, Clara would not exist. ^^ Bob G. and Bob Z. own it, ya hear? Lisa, however, I _do own._**

Lisa woke with a start, breathing deeply. She quickly put on her glasses and activated the dimmer switch for the lamp next to her bed so she wouldn't be totally blinded by the light when it came on.

It all came back to her, then, as she sat in bed with her knees drawn up to her chest. She had been dreaming. Dreaming of the only people on Earth she had categorized under the word "family" since her own had been destroyed many, many years ago.

FLASH!

"…you telling me you're an alien?"

"Yes. Do you have a book that shows the stars in the winter sky?"

A book was passed to her. She flipped through it until she came to the constellation Orion. She pointed to the middle star in the belt.

"That's Alnilam. I was born there…"

FLASH!

_Doc_… she thought, shaking her head at the memory that had just assaulted her mind. Hill Valley, California's town eccentric had held a special place in her hearts since they first met on Earth in the year 1983.

No, Lisa _wasn't_ quite human. She _is_, in human terms, an alien from another world. That world _is_ Alnilam, a planet that is located orbiting the star in Orion's belt that held the same name. Although she looked like an ordinary 19-year-old human girl, her age greatly exceeded a millennium. Her most distinguishing feature – a pair of retractable yellow-gold wings – was what really set her apart from the humans, other than her powers, which will be addressed as needed.

Lisa was considered by many (although, not herself) as pretty. She had long, waist-length brown hair, brown eyes, a semi-decent figure, and a quirky, if stubborn, personality. She was loved by many; unfortunately, the majority of them were mortal, and she is not. Lisa would live forever. That was one of the hardships of her life: outliving nearly everyone she knew and loved. But, she dealt with it as best she could. Coming home to Alnilam helped. The unicorns that lived there would live forever, too, provided nothing serious happened in their early childhood to prevent it.

Sighing, Lisa got up out of bed, slipped on her slippers, and walked across her room to the shelves that lined a wall or two. Shelves that held photographs of all the friends she made in her travels. One such photograph stood out amongst the others. The one she had taken in her dream. She had taken it in real life, too, during that two-week-long weekend in Hill Valley.

During a trip to Earth in June of 1983, Lisa had met and befriended one Dr. Emmett L. Brown ("Doc"). Neither of them was quite sure just _what, specifically, had brought them together, but they were both quite happy when it happened. When Martin McFly ("Marty") had come into the picture, well, it was twice as nice. After two years, in October of 1985, Doc revealed that he had invented a machine capable of traveling through time. She and Marty had, unwillingly, been the guinea pigs (after Einstein) and got sent into the past, to November 1955. Needless to say, what followed could have made a brilliant trilogy of movies. Marty nearly erased himself from existence, Doc would have died twice, and, in the end, he wound up with a wife and two sons._

_That_ was the clincher. Doc with a family. A family that didn't include Lisa. After she and Marty had come successfully back to 1985 from 100 years in the past, as they surveyed the destroyed DeLorean (it had gotten hit by a train, after Doc had decided time traveling was too dangerous), Doc had come back in a time traveling train. One couldn't keep a good scientist down, after all.

FLASH!

"Meet the family. Clara you know."

The woman – Clara Clayton – beside the scientist smiled and waved. "Hi, Marty! Hi, Lisa."

Marty was grinning from ear to ear. "Ma'am!"

Lisa, however, felt as if both her hearts would stop right then and there. She had known Doc had fallen in love with the schoolteacher who had originally fallen into a ravine, but…_family_? _She_ was his family. And yet…Doc looked so happy…happier than she had ever seen him…

"These are our boys." Doc said. "Jules…" A young boy of about 10 or so stepped in front of Doc and Clara. Doc went on: "and Verne." Another boy, this one 8 years old or thereabouts, stepped next to his brother.

"Boys, this is Marty, Jennifer, and Lisa…"

FLASH!

Lisa wiped a tear from her eye. She had been happy for Doc, really, she had. It occurred to her, long after she had left Hill Valley, that she was a little selfish for being jealous of Clara. Doc was happy. And Lisa was happy Doc was happy. Honest. But, she missed him so. Marty, too.

FLASH!

"It's great, Doc. Thanks."

Marty shifted the photograph to one hand and shook hands with Doc. The scientist suddenly looked around. Someone was missing…

"Marty, where did Lisa go?"

The teenager looked around. "She was just here. Jen, did you see where she went?"

Marty's girlfriend shook her head. "No. I wasn't watching." She glanced around. "It's as if she vanished into thin air."

Marty and Doc exchanged a look. It was entirely possible their alien friend had done just that…

FLASH!

She had. Once Doc had given Marty the photograph that had been taken in 1885 in front of the clock that would eventually sit atop the clock tower, she had just left. They didn't need her anymore. Even though the events were years (and years and _years_) past, she still felt a pang in her hearts when she thought about them. Doc and Marty had been special to her, and she never understood why, exactly. And, now, she was dreaming of her old friends.

That, in itself, was strange. For as long as she could remember, Lisa had been a lucid dreamer, which meant she could take 100% control of a dream she was having. However, for some strange reason, she had no control over the events in these. Perhaps because she was reliving a memory…? No, that couldn't be it. Even those she could control. Something else was up…but what?

Lisa sighed, a little annoyed with herself. She looked around the room, as if she felt someone could be watching her. That was impossible, however. The only other occupant of the house – her black and white domesticated shorthair cat, Fluffy – was sound asleep on the couch in the living room; or, at least, she was the last time Lisa checked; she wasn't in the bedroom, that one thing was certain. As for the rest of the planet's inhabitants – the "wildlife", so to speak – they had better things to do in the middle of the night than go prowling around the house, inside or out.

Like sleep.

Sleep. Right. That's what Lisa was doing before the dream.

She decided to put it out of her mind and go back to bed. Before doing so, however, she picked up the photograph of herself, Doc, Marty, Einstein, and the DeLorean, and carried it to her bed. She placed it on her nightstand, shut off the light, and went back to sleep.

_End part two._


	3. The Culprit

**Disclaimers: Mirage, Lisa, and Aislin are mine. Hopefully, this will make Aislin forgive me for giving him a girl's name (I didn't know at the time, I swear!!). _BTTF is, again, property of Bob and Bob. I think I neglect to mention this often, but if you review my fics (any of them), and provide a valid e-mail address (if you're a member of FF.net and provide a valid e-mail in your bio, I can get it off there), I will respond to you as soon as I get the review alert. I do this 'cause you're only allowed 1 review per chapter and it's hard to respond to everyone with limitations like that. ^^_**

A pair of ice-blue eyes watched Lisa through her bedroom window. They watched as she took the photograph from the shelf and brought it over to her nightstand. If only she had held it…

There was a snort and an aged – yet handsome – unicorn stallion stepped from the shadows, his bluish fur shining in the moonlight. _Lisa's so stubborn, he thought._

This stallion was Aislin. His fur, cloven hooves, horn, mane and tail were all different shades of blue. Aislin has power over dreams and is somewhat sensitive to the feelings of others. He knew how much Lisa regretted leaving Earth and her friends when she did. Heck, almost _all of the unicorns knew, though Aislin, alone, knew how Doc Brown felt. He could feel it even through the vast amount of space between Earth and Alnilam, and he could feel it from the dreams._

It was odd, but Aislin always got a feeling when someone dreams about something troubling them. Like Doc with Lisa. He wanted to know where she was, if he'd ever see her again. He thought of her as family even though he had a true one, now.

Aislin had begun monitoring Doc's dreams. Alnilam and Earth were nearly in time-sync (as in, they had the same rotation, same tilt on the axis; so, if it was 7pm Thursday on Earth, it was 7pm Thursday on Alnilam), so it was rather easy to judge and sense when he began dreaming. REM sleep sent vibrations through space into Aislin's mind, letting him know.

Doc's dreams of Lisa began a few weeks ago, and the unicorn had absolutely _nothing_ to do with it. The only sensation Aislin picked up from the dreams, at first, was that Doc missed Lisa and wondered where she was. As they progressed (_still Aislin had nothing to do with it), the stallion was nearly overwhelmed by feelings of longing and sadness. Doc __needed to see Lisa, and it was imperative that he did so right away. Aislin wasn't sure anything was __wrong, per se, but the urgency was very much apparent. He _had_ enhanced Doc's dreams a little, just to see if he could get any more information through them, but, otherwise, he did nothing else._

Then Aislin began influencing Lisa's dreams (yes, _that_ he had something to do with) and inhibiting her ability to control them. Things had to go a certain way in order for his plan to work. He didn't count, however, on her being this stubborn.

**_"Is it working?"_** a soft voice beside him said, speaking the basic language of the Alnilam unicorns.

Aislin turned to see a young, very thin unicorn mare. Her entire body, including her horn and cloven hooves, were different shades of green. Her eyes were a vivid blue, and there was a glow outlining her body. This was Mirage, the ghost unicorn, Aislin's childhood friend.

Aislin shook his head, his horn glowing in the Darkness, and spoke in the same language. **_"Lisa is very stubborn."_**

**_"We all knew that."_**

**_"Yes, but this might cause problems. If I don't give her the right message, she will never reunite with him."_**

Mirage tilted her head to one side, a gesture that could mean she was confused or thinking. **_"Why don't you just tell her?"_**

**_"Lisa is too stubborn to believe me,"_** said Aislin with a heavy sigh. **_"To believe ANYONE."_** He paused dramatically.**_ "Except Dr. Brown himself."_**

**_"Is there some way you could get him to explain the situation?"_**

**_"Not in dreams, no._****_ The environment is too sensitive to change, to peoples' thoughts. Something could be missing in the translation, so to speak."_**

**_"So…he'd have to tell her in the waking world?"_** Mirage was trying to piece this together so she could understand it.

**_"In a sense."_** Aislin looked back to Lisa's room. It was dark, but he could tell she wasn't in REM sleep yet. **_"I could do something with that picture, to give her a sign. But she has to HOLD it for it to work."_**

**_"Hold it while she's sleeping?"_**

**_"Yes. I must influence her dream to make her want to feel closer to Dr. Brown. So she'll hold the picture close to her while she sleeps."_**

**_"You have any idea of how to do that? How to make her dream that way, I mean?"_**

The stallion was silent for a moment, thinking. It hit him like the proverbial bolt of lightning. **_"I believe I do."_**

_End part three._


	4. Ich Liebe Dich

**Disclaimer, Author's Notes, and Dedications: I _have_ mentioned that this story (as are, well, ALL my stories) is Mary Sue, right? I'm not forcing you to read 'em. And I believe I classified this story as "Sci-Fi/Fantasy" as well. *ahem* Anyways, back to business. _BTTF in all its Great Scott-ed (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist ^^) glory is copyrighted to the Bobs. Lisa is mine. I would like to dedicate this chapter to Flaming Trails, who was so kind as to allow me to use her idea. Thank you! In-joke alert!! _****7:55PM**** was the time I typed that line. ^^ Oh, and I don't know German. I got the wording from Dictionary.com/Translate, so, if anyone who speaks/understands/can spell German can help me out with the wording and/or spelling, please do so. Incidentally, according to imdb.com, _Mickey's Christmas Carol came out in 1983. That is all._**

_Lisa found herself in Doc Brown's garage. It was in its usual state of disarray, as always. The sound of numerous ticking clocks echoed through the building. Though a series of lights were illuminating the interior, she could tell it was night from the lack of sunlight coming through the windows and from the fact that the clocks she could read showed __7:55PM__ on their faces._

_She looked around the place, unaware that she wasn't alone. Pinned to a bulletin board was a newspaper article reading: __BROWN__MANSION__ DESTROYED. That, at least, told her that it was after __August 2, 1962_, which was the day after Doc's house had burned down. He had told her he had to move into his garage after the accident.__

_The place wasn't exactly meant to lived in, but it was all Doc had left. He had managed to salvage some of his belongings from the house and bring them to the garage. Lisa, however, didn't meet him until long, long after the accident._

_Lisa heard a sound behind her and turned around quickly. She saw Doc Brown lying on a couch, moving around as if coming out of a deep sleep._

_"Sorry," Lisa apologized. "I didn't mean to wake you."_

_Doc ignored her. Strange. She walked slowly around the furniture until she came to a pile of_..._well, junk on the floor. She couldn't go around, so she tried to step over it._

_Her foot went through the debris._

_More than a little astonished, Lisa tried to touch the wall she was standing beside, and her hand went through that as well._

_"Weird_…_" she whispered._

_Then she heard another sound, this one not in Doc's voice._

_It was her own._

_Lisa continued on and saw herself curled up beside Doc, sound asleep with one of his long coats draped over her as a makeshift blanket. Lisa finally looked at herself – she who was not asleep on the couch – and saw that all colors on her body were washed out. It was as if she were a ghost._

_"If I'm there," she said to herself, pointing at the one sleeping against Doc and assuming, quite correctly, that they couldn't hear her since she wasn't even solid enough dent the piles of trash on the floor, "and here," she pointed to herself, "_…_am I just an observer? I think_…_"_

_She paused and, acting on an impulse, looked at the garage floor._

_Yep. There was The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, and the television was playing _Mickey's Christmas Carol_._

_She smiled. She remembered this. She remembered this, indeed._

_It was December of 1984, very close to Christmas, the second Christmas they had spent together. She and Doc had settled on the couch to read a little before they watched the movie (which, incidentally, had rerun later that night according to the TV Guide). Lisa, being Lisa, had made herself comfortable by curling up on the couch and laying her head against Doc's chest, using one of his coats as a blanket. The scientist hadn't protested; in fact, he had adjusted his position so she'd be more comfortable, and they stayed that way as he read her passages from The Time Machine._

_Lisa didn't remember ever seeing the end of the movie that night, and had concluded she must have fallen asleep before it ended. And here, she saw, that Doc had drifted off as well. Neither of them had woken until the next morning._

_At least, that's what she thought._

_Doc opened his eyes and looked down as Sleeping-Lisa shifted a bit in her sleep. He smiled softly and gently stroked her hair. She sighed a little, but didn't wake._

_For the first time, Lisa knew what Doc was thinking and feeling during this_…__

_He was perfectly comfortable having her sleep against him. Warm feelings of utter contentment washed over Waking-Lisa (for, as far as she was concerned, she was awake). It made her smile even more. It felt like_…_like…_

_Like family._

_Lisa hadn't had a family since the incident. Doc had been the first person to fill that void in her hearts after_…_after. Doc was hers, plain and simple. Doc was hers._

_Doc had never had a true family (back then_…_). Lisa had been the best thing that ever happened to him. He was quite certain of how Lisa fit into his life._

_"_Ich liebe dich, meine Tochter_," the scientist whispered to Lisa's sleeping counterpart as the waking one listened intently. "I don't care if you're beyond my species. In my heart, you're mine."_

_He blushed a little, as if whatever he had said had been embarrassing, and he was glad Lisa was a sound sleeper and couldn't hear him. He fell asleep shortly after that, leaving Waking-Lisa to her own devices._

_Lisa had been sleeping soundly. So soundly, in fact, that she didn't know that had happened. Now, however, she did._

Ich liebe dich, meine Tochter_, she repeated in her mind, not understanding the language he had been speaking. The only languages she could understand were the languages of animals, and, unfortunately, the human animal wasn't included in that._

_What could it mean?_

_Being insubstantial, and yet all her powers seemed to be intact, there was only one way to find out._

_Lisa shut her eyes and concentrated, casting her mind into Doc's. She "pulled up" his most recent memories and reviewed them. The words_…_were German…_

_"_Ich liebe dich, meine Tochter_. I don't care if you're beyond my species. In my heart, you're mine."_

_"_Ich liebe dich, meine Tochter_."_

_"I love you, my daughter."_

_Intense happiness coursed through every pore of Lisa's being. She opened her eyes and grinned uncontrollably. She had known he loved her, of course, but actually hearing him say it (even in another language) was another matter._

_Lisa searched his mind again, shutting her eyes tightly in concentration, in the area of his brain that knew the language._

_After a moment, satisfied with her search, she opened her eyes and came to stand right beside the sleeping scientist. She knelt down so they were nearly face-to-face and spoke to him, stumbling a little over the pronunciation, even though she knew he couldn't hear her_…

_"_Ich liebe dich, Vater_."_

_"I love you, Father."_

_End part four._


	5. So Far So Good

**Disclaimers-N-Such: Firstly, I would like to thank all you kind people who are reviewing me and telling me how much you like the story. This chapter is dedicated to all of you! Extra special shout-out to Ben, John, Julie, and Ashee. Love and snuggles to you guys! _BTTF will always remain to be copyrighted to the great Bobs. Lisa, Aislin, and Mirage are mine. And I'm watching the first movie as I type this sentence. ^^ If you guys want me to let you know when I update this story, leave me a note in a Review! In-joke alert! It was nearly 10 at night when I wrote that sentence, so I flipped it to morning._**

Sun shining through the window, Lisa awoke to find herself smiling. The warm feelings flowing through her body had nothing to do with the summertime sunlight. She sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes. For a moment, she thought she heard a snort and the sound of hooves galloping away from the house, but she didn't think twice about it. Lisa picked up the photograph she had set on her nightstand and gazed at it, gently running her thumb along the white hair of the image of Doc Brown.

"I miss you…" she whispered. Sudden tears sprung to her eyes as a near-overwhelming feeling of deep sadness settled upon her like a cold, wet blanket. She hugged the photo to her chest as the tears slipped down her cheeks, leaving small, damp circles on her blankets.

Lisa knew the dream she had been having had been a memory, but what of the parts her other self was asleep through, such as Doc telling her he loved her? Were they real? Did they actually happen?

Something inside her told her the answer to those questions was a most definite _yes_.

It took her nearly 10 minutes to cry herself dry. Oh, she had considered going back to Earth, but something always kept her from carrying it out. She was firmly convinced Doc didn't need her anymore and these dreams were just something her subconscious was cooking up because she missed him so much.

Lisa knew she wouldn't get anymore sleep, especially considering it was nearly 10 in the morning, so she placed the photograph back on her nightstand, put on her glasses, and got up to begin the day.

Meanwhile, outside, Aislin was galloping away from the house. He felt slightly confident that merging Lisa and Dr. Brown's memories of that fateful night would have the desired results.

He ran until he entered a small clearing in the forest where Mirage was waiting.

**_"How'd it go?"_** she asked.

**_"Proceeding as planned."_** Aislin replied, then yawned. He had been up all night, of course, and it was taking its toll. **_"I'll have to wait until tonight to try again."_** He yawned for a second time, clearly exhausted.

Mirage went to him and gave him an affectionate nuzzle. **_"You should sleep now. You'll need your strength tonight."_**

Another yawn escaped the unicorn before he could answer her. **_"Yes, you're right. Goodnight, Mirage."_ He nuzzled her.**

She giggled. **_"You mean, 'Good morning'."_**

Aislin managed a tired smile (or the unicorn equivalent, anyway) and walked away to his home in the forest, hoping that things would go the way he needed.

That night, Aislin galloped as fast as he could to Lisa's house. He had overslept and it was far after dark by the time he got there, but he could feel that she hadn't entered REM sleep yet.

By peeking through her window, he could see her sitting, awake, on her bed, leafing through a book. She looked up suddenly and Aislin backed up into the shadows, lest she see him and figure out what he was up to.

After a moment, he heard her sigh, then she put the book away and returned to her bed. She picked up the photograph, held it tight against her, removed her glasses, placed them on the night stand, shut off the light, lay down, and closed her eyes.

Aislin made a unicorn grin. It was time.

_End part five._


	6. A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes

**The Required Stuff: Well, we're gettin' down to the wire now! I think there's only gonna be somewhere between 3 and 5 chapters left after this one. Depends on how difficult ****AL****'s gonna be. ^^ _BTTF, to this day, remains copyrighted to the Bobs. Lisa will always be mine. I borrowed a song from Disney's _Cinderella_, but I'll return it when I'm through. Extra special hugs to John. He knows why. In response to Anakin McFly: My TV is right behind me, so technically I'm not watching. I'm listening. ^^ And, as I type this sentence, Doc and Marty are getting their picture taken in front of the clock._**

_Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock._

_The steady sound of the many clocks welcomed those who entered the lab as they had for their owner many times before. Concealed here were things should not be seen by prying eyes. Such as the time machine, several inventions, and_…__

_And one particular photograph._

_Anyone who saw it would think it strange. The town eccentric, a local teenager, and a strange young girl standing and smiling in front of a clock face that had been atop a tower in the town square for more than 30 years._

_It was a copy of the photograph Doc Brown had given Marty when he returned to 1985 briefly to collect Einstein and make sure the teen wouldn't worry about where the scientist had gone. He had kept one for himself. Of course. He would have._

_Lisa found herself holding her own photograph – the one she had taken in 2015 – standing beside a DeLorean. Not the DeLorean; a DeLorean. The DeLorean had been run over by a train._

I wonder when he got a new car_, she thought to herself, gently running her hand over the cool stainless steel frame of the vehicle._

_Her eyes fell upon the photo from 1885. She went over to the table it was sitting on. She could remember how happy she was when they posed for that picture. Doc had his hands tight on her shoulders and the three of them (she, Doc, and Marty) were smiling broadly._

_And then_…__

_A sudden noise jerked her out of her thoughts. It startled her so, she dropped the photo she was holding. Luckily, it fell onto the table instead of the floor, and it didn't shatter. It did, however, jar the other photo enough to fall forward._

_Lisa went to investigate the source of the sound. She heard muttering coming from somewhere in the lab. Moving to the door that allowed entrance, the mutterings became clearer. All of a sudden, the door swung open and Doc Brown entered the building._

_The scientist was tinkering with what looked like a computer circuit board as he walked in._

_Lisa had to smile. Same old Doc. "Hi, Doc," she said brightly._

_The circuit board nearly went flying. He looked up and saw her giggling uncontrollably. "Very funny, Lisa," he said, giving her a look of amusement-slash-exasperation._

_"I'm sorry," she said, a chuckle still in her voice._

_Doc sighed. "No harm done." He went over to the table Lisa had been standing by and put the circuit board down on it. Noticing the unfamiliar photograph, he picked it up, then glanced at his alien friend for an explanation._

_"Remember I took that when we were in 2015? I_…_wanted to give it to you, but I never had the chance."_

_They both knew why. Doc looked at the picture a moment, then turned his dark eyes on Lisa._

_She began to explain, when she was interrupted by the sound of the clocks chiming the hour. Lisa covered her ears, and then suddenly started to fade._

_Clutching the photograph in one hand, Doc reached his other for Lisa. Her lips formed words, but no sound came out._

_"Lisa!" Doc shouted, his extended hand passing right through hers._

_Everything – the lab, the DeLorean, even Doc and Lisa – disappeared._

_End part six._


	7. Such Stuff As Dreams Are Made Of

**You know the drill by now: _BTTF_ isn't mine; it's the Bobs'. Lisa is mine. I borrowed a quote from "Doctor Who"; I'll give it back. Yadda yadda. If it was, Clara wouldn't be in this chapter. xp~ In joke alert: ****1:14**** is the date (Jan. 14) I wrote this.**

Waking with a gasp, Doc Brown sat upright in bed. _Again?_ he thought, taking a moment to catch his breath. He had lost count of the times he had dreamt of the one and only alien life form he had known in his life. Seeing her again, even in dreams, was nice and all, but this was getting monotonous.

He reviewed the dream in his mind and was astonished to notice he was shaking. Doc briefly wondered why when it hit him:

_Lisa_… The intense _panic he had felt when she disappeared in his dream. He didn't understand why, but when it happened, it felt like she was being cut off from him forever. He didn't like that notion. He didn't like not being able to contact her, and the dreams just added to the urge to find her._

_The dreams._ The dreams didn't seem like dreams. They were feeling more and more real every time he had one. If he didn't know any better, he could swear there was something mystical at work. But, that was impossible.

Or _was_ it?

"Emmett?"

The voice directly beside him nearly startled the scientist out of his wits. When he had dislodged his heart from his throat, he turned to his wife, Clara Brown _née_ Clayton.

Even in the darkness, he could see Clara's concerned face. Her dark hair stood out in a frizzy, sleep-tousled halo around her head.

"Yes, Clara? Did I wake you?"

"Not exactly," she answered. "What's wrong? Another dream?"

Doc had told Clara of the Lisa Dreams – he had dubbed them that after the first week passed and they hadn't let up – when they had started. She had smiled softly and attributed it only to the scientist missing the alien girl so much. Now, though, she was wondering if there was something else going on.

He nodded. "They're getting more and more real. At least, they _feel_ real." Doc sighed and looked down. "I don't know what's causing these, Clara. I don't think it's a mere case of missing her."

"Emmett," Clara began, sitting up, then she paused and looked down at the bed covers. "Emmett, what's this?"

Doc looked up. Clara was holding something in her hand. He had to turn on the bedside lamp to see better. It looked like…

_Lisa's picture frame!_

"Great Scott!" he gasped softly, taking the frame from his wife. Yes, it was the _same thing_ Lisa, and then himself, had been holding in his dream. It even had the photo of himself, Lisa, Marty, and Einstein with the old DeLorean time machine.

"This is the photo I saw in my dream. The one…the one Lisa wanted to give me." Doc gripped the frame in both hands. "I was holding it when I woke up."

Clara put her hand on his. "Emmett…"

"I know. I don't know how it happened. But…this could mean that there _is_ something mystical at work. I _have_ to find out a way to contact her; otherwise these dreams will drive me as crazy as those in Hill Valley think I am."

His wife leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. "Tomorrow, Emmett. It's the middle of the night."

But Doc shook his head. "I can't…" He then noted the time: 1:14 in the morning. "Maybe you're right." He put the photograph on the nightstand and shut off the light. "I'll sleep on it."

_End part seven._


	8. If I Could, Then I Would

**The Required: _BTTF is the Bobs'. Lisa is mine. I borrowed a song from The Calling. I'll return it. Honest. In-joke alert! The present-day date I gave, August 22, was the time I wrote the line: _****8:22PM****. Extra special hugs to John and Ben.**

Lisa woke abruptly. Somehow, the sound of the clocks had been so loud, they jarred her into wakefulness. Groaning, she rolled over, but stopped when she realized something.

Her photograph was gone.

She turned on the light and searched her room, around the bed and under it, underneath her covers and between the mattress and headboard and pillow.

The photograph had disappeared.

Lisa remembered having it in her hands in her dream, dropping it, and Doc picking it up. He was holding it before she woke up.

_Could_ he have it, now? It…wasn't impossible. Improbable, unlikely, yes. But _not_ impossible. _Nothing_ was impossible, unless you stopped believing in it.

She stood and went to her open window. Her room's side of the house faced toward the forest. Briefly, she thought she saw a glimmer of blue, but it could have been anything. Blue animals were far more common on Alnilam than they were on Earth.

Leaning against the frame, she closed her eyes. She could hear rustling coming from the forest. A cool breeze caressed her bare arms and tugged at her nightgown.

She opened her eyes and gazed upward at the sky. There was little to no air pollution here, so the stars were easily visible. She didn't quite know if Earth's sun was visible (or, even, if it was the right time of year, as Orion was a constellation seen from Earth only in the winter), but looking up and knowing it was out there, somewhere, was mildly comforting.

Again, she considered returning to Earth; again, something told her _no_. A part of her was so firmly convinced nothing would come of it, it always kept her from doing what she knew deep inside her was right.

Sniffling, she felt a familiar pang in her hearts. The same one that occurred when she was thinking about a painful memory. That could be one of the factors keeping her from returning to Earth.

Lisa turned away from the window and looked at her wall calendar. It was specially made and enchanted to follow not only Alnilam's time, but Earth's as well. It made it easier that both planets were in time-sync, but only Lisa thought of the passage of the days as Sunday through Saturday, 24 hours in a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, leap year every 4 years (it came from too much time spent on Earth).

According to the calendar, it was August 22, 1993 on Earth. Would Doc even be there? That was another factor: The scientist had gone to live in the past with his family. He could still be there. He could even be…

_Stop that!_ Lisa mentally berated herself. She would have felt it, even though the vastness of time and space itself, if Doc had died. No, he was still living…somewhere…in time.

_End part eight._


	9. A Sleepless Night for One

**Necessary Details: _BTTF is the Bobs'. Aislin and Lisa are mine. You should all know this by now._**

Aislin stamped his hoof. He wasn't counting on the clocks in the dream to wake her. But, no matter. All he had to do was wait for her to go back to bed and he could…

**_"Why isn't she going back to bed?"_**

Lisa was walking out of her room, out of the Hall O' Rooms (the long hallway where all the bedrooms in Lisa's house were located), and…

Out of the house, fully dressed in jeans, sweatshirt, and her infamous red jacket.

_Where does she think she's going?_ Aislin thought to himself, carefully keeping them hidden so Lisa couldn't hear him.

Slowly, quietly, the stallion followed Lisa as she walked away from the house. Two enormous, glowing, yellow-gold feathered wings emerged from her back.

_Uh oh,_ Aislin thought. If she took to the air, he'd have a harder time tracking her.

But, instead, she just walked toward the lone tree in front of her house and climbed up onto the lowest branch, which was bent like a seat. She pulled something from the pocket of her jacket, brought her hands to her mouth, and Aislin could hear a soft, haunting melody as the breeze carried it to his ears. Lisa was playing her pan flute.

Aislin didn't recognize the song, but he knew it was one Lisa played when she felt alone, scared, or troubled about something.

Well, at least he was getting her to _think about the situation. Now, if only she would go back to bed, he could complete his mission for tonight._

Unfortunately, as Aislin watched the moon glide across the star-dappled, purplish-blue sky, hours passed and Lisa went through her entire repertoire of slow, almost sad songs, reflecting her feelings like a musical mirror.

Yawning, the stallion folded his legs and set himself down on the multicolored grass, nibbling a little on the blades and trying not to make too much noise. Lisa's ears were just about as good as a unicorn's.

He didn't even know he'd fallen asleep until he felt the sun's rays on his nose, where his head had drooped out from the canopy of forest trees.

Waking with a start, Aislin jumped to his feet the moment he realized Lisa had left her perch. He had to pause a moment to make sure he didn't get the signal that she had entered REM sleep.

She hadn't. All night.

_All right, then. Where could she have gone?_

The only plausible conclusion he could come up with was that she went back to the house, so he headed that way. When he got to the building, he made a thorough circle around it, looking in all the windows, but Lisa was nowhere to be seen.

Cursing a little in the unicorn language, Aislin stomped his hoof again. **_"Where could she be?"_** he asked no one in particular, berating himself for falling asleep in the line of duty.

He searched for several hours before giving up. He had asked everyone he could find and no one had seen Lisa all day.

Aislin sighed. If he couldn't find Lisa, he wouldn't be able to finish what he wanted to do.

No, that wasn't quite true. There was one, final thing he could do. However, it would take nearly all his energy to pull off. If it worked, he'd be unconscious for several hours while his body recuperated.

_I have no choice,_ he finally decided.

Aislin walked to a secluded part of the small meadow, where Lisa's house was located, and laid down on the grass. Summoning all his magic and energy, he concentrated on pinpointing Lisa's mind. His horn began to glow.

He found her after a moment. He didn't know where she is, but at least he had a "grip" on her mind, so to speak.

Horn glowing intensely, Aislin blasted her mind with his most powerful dream magic. Hoping against all hope this would work, he let himself slip into unconsciousness.

_End part nine._


	10. Reliving a Nightmare

**Stuff Needed to Be Said: _BTTF_ = Bob and Bob. Lisa = mine. Get it? Got it? Good.**

_It was dark and cold. Lisa could see her breath in front of her. She was in the parking lot of a mall, standing beside Marty, who was operating Doc Brown's JVC video camera. Two pine trees stood across the way and a glowing sign was on top of a hill. Doc himself was standing beside a gleaming DeLorean time machine, newly tested and ready for its maiden voyage._

_Beside them, there was a large white truck parked by a light, reading: DR. E. BROWN ENTERPRISES 24 HOUR SCIENTIFIC SERVICES and a sheepdog, Doc's dog, Einstein, was sitting obediently inside, wearing a doggy-style radiation suit._

_Doc opened the door to the DeLorean and cleared his throat. "I, Dr. Emmett Brown, am about to embark on an historic journey." He paused, then laughed. "What am I thinking of? I almost forgot to bring extra plutonium. How do I ever expect to get back? One pellet, one trip. I must be out of my mind."_

_Suddenly, Einstein began to bark. Lisa frowned. There was a warning in those barks._

_"What is it, Einie?" Doc asked._

_The dog turned his head pointedly toward the truck's windshield. Lisa followed his gaze and gasped. "Doc, look!" She pointed to a van down the road, which was just switching on its headlights._

_Doc came closer to Lisa for a better look, his hand sliding across the open gull-wing door. His face showed a look of abject terror. "Oh, my God," he said in a dull voice. "They found me. I don't know how, but they found me." He made a break for it. "Run for it, you two!"_

_Lisa and Marty, who was still running the camera, turned to face Doc. "Who? Who?"_

_Doc stopped against the door of the truck to point. "Who do you think? The Libyans!"_

_The younger two of the group followed the direction of Doc's finger. A man was now sticking his upper torso out of the van, shouting in Arabic, holding a gun, ready to fire._

_"Holy shit!"__ Marty cried, pulling Lisa's arm and ducking down with her behind the DeLorean as the bullets shot towards them._

_Doc covered himself as they ricocheted off the van. "I'll draw their fire!" he shouted, picking up a gun out of a red toolbox. He tried firing, but the gun wasn't loaded. More bullets shot to him, bouncing off the truck._

_"Doc, wait!" Lisa shouted, petrified, breathing hard and hearts pounding so loud she could hear them._

_The scientist was ducking his way along the truck, but the van stopped right in his path. Doc raised his arms in surrender and threw his gun away._

_Lisa's breath caught in her throat. _No…no…__

_The Libyan man fired upon Doc, the bullets tearing into him. He fell backward onto the pavement, his face covered by the front of the truck._

_Lisa felt as if the bullets had torn her apart from the inside. Her eyes brimmed with tears. A cry came, but from herself, Marty, or both, she couldn't be sure, nor did she care…_

_"NOOOOOOO!"___

_End part ten._


	11. The Waters of Watching

**Legalities: _BTTF is Bobs'. Lisa and Aislin are mine. I sort of mixed an idea from two book series: The Unicorns of Balinor and The Unicorn Chronicles, but it's a minor thing. I'll give the ideas back. Promise._**

Lisa awoke, her head and hearts pounding, the sound of the bullets and the cry still echoing in her mind. _Doc?__ she thought, still very groggy. _Doc?___ Doc! Doc!_

"Doc!" she cried, sitting upright and finding herself lying on the soft grass in the small meadow, just a few yards from her house. Breathing hard, she looked around, and realized she was no longer in the mall parking lot.

Her hearts gave an odd, painful twist, tears welling up in her eyes. She knew Doc had survived that attack…the second time. The first time…the first time, he had…

Lisa's mind reeled, feeling as if it would shut down from the overflow of emotion. She tried to calm down, but it was difficult. The image of Doc's motionless body was and had been firmly burned into her mind's eye.

_I have to go,_ she thought. _I have to go._ "Right now," she said aloud. "I have to go. I have to find him. Now."

She picked herself up off the ground and dusted off her clothes, walking back to her house, contemplating exactly how she would pull this off. She had no idea where Doc was now. She could always go back to 1885, but there might be an easier way without involving her own time travel powers.

Lisa then remembered that the unicorns had a way of seeing where people were, no matter what planet or time. She knew they wouldn't mind her using it, but she needed a unicorn to do so. She had the means, for she could shape shift into a unicorn form, but she didn't like to use it and would rather not.

Then she saw something lying in a patch of grass several feet from her house. When she went to investigate, she saw it was Aislin.

Lisa knelt at the unicorn's side, stroking his soft neck. He was breathing slowly and deeply, as if he were asleep. "Aislin," she whispered. "Aislin?"

The stallion snorted softly and opened his eyes, nickering sleepily. He lifted his head and locked his bright blue eyes on Lisa, his ears shifting forward to full attention.

Like a bolt from the blue, Lisa finally understood. "It was _you," she said. "__You were the one giving me the dreams."_

Aislin nodded, a humanoid gesture he had picked up, and said, **_"Yes, it was _****_I._****_ I could sense how much Dr. Brown wanted…NEEDED to see you. So I began influencing your dreams, inhibiting your ability to control them, and linking them when needed."_**

"I see," she said. "And this last one?"

**_"I felt time was running out, and you were…so stubborn. I felt you wouldn't believe it if I told you he missed you. Wanted to see you."_**

Lisa looked away. "Your right. I wouldn't've." She looked to him again. "But, it seems to me, you put your health at risk to give me the last one."

Aislin took a breath and heaved himself to his feet. **_"I'll be fine,"_ he said, shaking dirt and dust out of his coat and prancing around a bit to prove he was fit. **_"Giving people dreams when they're awake takes a lot of energy. I've had ample time to recuperate."_** He faced her as best as he could. **_"Lisa, you MUST go back to _******_Hill_****__****_Valley_****_."_**

Even with her previous urgency to get back to Earth and find her old friend, Lisa still hesitated. "Aislin, I don't know where or _when he is. He could still be in the Old West for all I know."_

Aislin smiled his unicorn smile. **_"I do. Follow me."_**

He led her to a small pool encased in sapphire-blue stones covered in glowing, moss-like yellow fuzz. Like all the water on Alnilam, the silvery liquid was so clear, one could see straight to the bottom.

This was the Waters of Watching, and it had the ability to show anyone or anything one desired, any place, any planet, any time. All that was needed was the natural magic contained in a living unicorn's horn.

Aislin stepped close to the pool and dipped his horn into the water. **_"I wish to see the present location of Dr. Emmett Brown."_**

The water rippled as the stallion removed his horn and continued to do so for a moment after. Lisa looked over the stones into the water and watched as an image appeared.

Doc Brown was in the same barn-turned-lab Lisa had seen in the dream she had lost her photo in. Aislin had told her on the way he had used some of his magic to allow the photograph to pass from the waking world to the dream world and back. It only worked if the object was held tightly; it could be lost between worlds, otherwise. Luckily, that didn't happen, and Aislin had accomplished his goal for that dream.

What hit her was how he looked: exactly the same. He still had the white hair, bushy white eyebrows, and the chocolate-brown eyes. He still wore the outlandish shirts and khakis. To Lisa, it's as if he hadn't changed at all.

Lisa saw Doc working on something the Waters blurred out, but the scientist was in clear focus. On the table beside him, she could see two photographs: the one that was taken in 1885 in front of the clock, _and the one she took in 2015._

"He _does_ have it!" she cried. "Aislin, you were right."

**_"Of course,"_** he said. **_"Look here."_ He pointed with his horn to a wall calendar Doc had passed while walking through the lab.**

She leaned closer to the water for a better look, squinting. "August 22, 1993…that's the same date my calendar says today is." Straightening, she looked at Aislin. "You mean he's there, in Hill Valley, in the present time? He came back?"

Aislin nodded. **_"And he's searching. For you."_**

_End part eleven._


	12. Reunited At Last

_Chapter Twelve: Reunited At Last_

Doc Brown was looking over charts and books and every bit of information he could get his hands on, all to figure out a way to find wherever Lisa could be. He knew her home planet was Alnilam, the middle star in Orion's belt, but he had no way of knowing if she was there, now, or how to contact her, or how to get there.

Sighing, he leaned over and rubbed his forehead with his fingertips. The last dream he'd had was hovering in his mind, haunting him. He had been a spectator of his own murder. It was like an alternate version of what happened at Lone Pine Mall in October of 1985, when he had tested the time machine for the first time. He remembered very clearly how it really happened: he'd put on a bulletproof vest, aware of the incident because of a letter Lisa and Marty had left him in 1955, warning him of the danger.

The dream was weighing heavily on his mind. It frightened him, for some reason. Although, it wasn't as if he, himself, were feeling the fear…more like the feelings were coming from far away. _He_ was simply uneasy.

Doc straightened and glanced at the pair of photographs on the work table, his eyes locking on Lisa's image. "I'll find you," he vowed. "Come Hell or high water, Lisa, I will find you."

His eyes fell on one of the many clocks he had situated about the lab. It was 1:19PM. He'd been working nonstop for seven hours without a break. Even his breakfast that morning had been a rushed one, as he was eager to get to work.

Doc decided to take a break and have lunch. He sealed the lab from outside intruders that may want to take the time machine and headed back to the house.

Clara was fixing sandwiches in the kitchen when he entered. "Any luck?" she asked after giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Her husband sat down at the table, head in hands, nursing an oncoming headache. Most likely, he was hungry. He sighed. "Not in the sense of the word," he said. "I don't even know what I'm looking for. All the information I've gathered states that Alnilam, the middle star in Orion's belt, is just that: a star. A blue B0Ia super-giant star, 30 times the diameter of our sun, to be exact. There's no record whatsoever of a planet orbiting that star."

Clara set a sandwich and a cup of coffee in front of Doc, who ate it halfheartedly. "Well, we are talking about someone beyond normal science, are we not?" she asked.

Mouth full, Doc could only nod.

"Perhaps…Alnilam as she knows it, as her home, is hidden from scientific instruments. We _are_ dealing with something mystical here, after all."

Doc tapped his chin, thinking, taking a sip of coffee. "Perhaps you're right." He put down his cup and sighed. "I just don't know what else to do, Clara. I feel like I'm cut off from her forever."

Sympathetically, Clara rubbed his shoulders. "You'll find a way, Emmett. You always do."

Nodding, Doc stood. "You're right." He finished his lunch in a hurry and kissed his wife. "I better get back to work and see if I can dig something else up."

"Good luck, Emmett."

Doc headed purposefully back to the lab, but his pace got slower as he got nearer, until he finally stopped halfway there. He really felt like he'd hit the proverbial brick wall with this. "I just don't know what to do," he said miserably.

"You can start by coming over here and giving me a hug."

The inventor was so startled he nearly jumped a foot into the air. Clutching his heart, trying to make it slow down, he looked around for the source of the very familiar voice.

Nothing.

He groaned. "Now I'm beginning to hear her voice when there's no one there."

"You sure about that?"

Jumping again, he whirled around, frowning. "Lisa? Really, I don't have the stamina for this."

He felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around quickly, there she was! She was wearing blue jeans, a t-shirt with a picture of a rearing unicorn on it, her red jacket was tied around her waist, and her wings were glowing with the warmth of the sun.

She was smiling. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist. Now, how about that hug?"

Doc didn't hesitate. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, holding her tight. He stroked her long brown hair, a tear or two slipping silently down his cheeks.

"God, I've missed you," he whispered.

Lisa pulled away, quite reluctantly. "You did? You have?" She sounded astonished.

"Yes. Why?"

Her wings flushed pink with embarrassment. "Leaving wasn't my choice, actually…I was taken out of time against my will, but I probably would've left, anyway…"

Doc blinked. "Why?"

Lisa hedged, then said, "I…thought…you wouldn't need me around anymore now that you had a family." She averted her gaze, looking down. Her wings flicked briefly to dark blue. "I was…" She sighed. "I was jealous. I felt replaced."

Doc stared at her, quite taken aback. He took her gently by the shoulders and used one hand to slowly tilt her chin to look right into her eyes. "Lisa," he said, speaking softly and clearly, "Clara and the boys could never replace you. There's a place in my heart that only you can fill, and it's been a hole since you left."

She put one hand on his. "I know that now. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." She hugged him again, tears welling up in her eyes. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Smiling, he patted her head tenderly, combing his fingers affectionately through her hair. "I forgive you, Lisa." He held her for a few more moments, all the time he spent missing her evaporating like a puddle on a summer day, then finally let her go. "How long are you here for?"

Lisa grinned. "For as long as I need to be."

"Great!" He put his hand on her shoulder, squeezing a little. "Now, I just have to ask you one thing above everything else."

"What's that?"

"Is there any way to contact you when you're on Alnilam?"

Lisa laughed. "Sure. Here's what you do…"

_The End_


End file.
